New BPCA Chief

The Battery Park City Authority has a new president. One month after Gayle Horwitz resigned from the post, Authority chairman Dennis Mehiel announced the appointment of Demetrios A. Boutris, 51, a California-based business consultant and real estate investor who, according to a statement from the Authority, is giving up his business interests to take the job.

Boutris, a lawyer, will also serve as the Authority's Chief Operating Officer.

Mehiel made the announcement at a meeting Tuesday of the Authority's board, where Boutris sat beside him at the head of the conference table but did not speak.

Asked after the meeting about his familiarity with Battery Park City, he said, "I've walked it maybe 20 times."

Boutris, who lives in Sacremento and Los Angeles, said he has been splitting his time between the West Coast and New York, where his wife, Aurelia Mika Chang, a concert pianist, and their two sons live on the Upper West Side.  "As of tonight I'm here," he said.

Boutris has headed California's investment and financing authority and served as a counsel to former California Gov. Gray Davis and U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor in the Clinton administration.